Alexander Schwarz und Tom Ziegler, April 2016

HSG64 followed an old tradition in the flying wings to paint aircraft in special colours for anniversaries and special occasions. Thus the helicopter with Germany Air Force registration 84+06 was painted in the system center for aircraft technology on the airbase Erding in a special colour scheme. With its new colourful paint it was then welcomed in Laupheim on August 1st 2014.

There was not even one but two reasons for the special colours: First of all the wing was newly established, second the transfer of all medium transport helicopters from the Army (Heer) to the Air Force (Luftwaffe). These two specific reasons have been reused as well in the colour scheme. From the middle of the fuselage to the tail the black colour slowly changes to the brighter grey used by the army – thus signifying the legacy with the Army Air Troops. A dark blue, which changes to a more brighter blue represents the new future within the Air Force. The success with the old operator is represented explicitly. Next to the patches of the middle transport helicopter regiments on the tail various missions are depicted. Firefighting missions have been performed in Fahrenberg, Grafenwöhr and Thumsee in Germany, Larissa, Attika and Peloponnese in Greece and as well Abruzzo in Italy. Emergency support after earthquakes was done in Udine in Italy and Pakistan, after an avalanche in Galtür in Austria, due to flooding at Elbe, Oder and Donau in Germany. Furthermore humanitarian missions as in Pakistan and Kurde areas are shown and international missions like IFOR, KFOR, SFOR and ISAF are not forgotten.

The white stallions depicted on the side represent the name assigned to the type – which is known as “Stallion”.The underside shows the patch of the helicopter wing 64.

The operational history of the aircraft, a Sikorsky CH-53G with the serial V65-004, can be seen below:

- May 1972: checked for airworthiness and transferred to the Army Flying Training School (Heeresfliegerwaffenschule HFWS) in Bückeburg

- October 1975: transferred to the technical school of the German Air Force (Technische Schule der Luftwaffe TSLw3) in Faßberg

- December 1977: transferred to the Army Flying Regiment 35 (Heerefliegerregiment 35, HFlgRgt 35) in Mendig